Today: Wednesday, 24 April 2024 year

An inflated aluminium chair that is extremely light and stable

An inflated aluminium chair that is extremely light and stable

Polish designer Oskar Zieta of Zieta Studio has presented his own version of the legendary 1957 Superleggera, an ultra-light chair made of aluminium. The modern version – Ultraleggera – weighs less than two kilos because it is made by blowing up aluminium sheets.

Nowadays, advanced technology allows realizing the maddest ideas. Oskar Zieta has found inspiration in the 1957 Superleggera chair made by Italian architect Gio Ponti. His super-lightweight chair was created by stripping down a traditional Ligurian design to its bare essentials.

Following Ponti’s idea, Zieta Studio has developed his own version of the ultra-light chair. Ultraleggera is made entirely of aluminium sheets that have been welded together and blown up.

A point is often overlooked is eco-friendliness of the product and the entire process. Compared to the traditional production chain, the patented FiDU method conserves both energy and material, and to top it off, the Ultraleggera is made entirely from recyclable material.

Ultraleggera chair is extremely light but strong

It took several years to the designer to make a wonderful chair with weight of 1.66 kg. The strength and stability of the Ultraleggera can be owed to a production process known as FiDU, which has been developed by Zieta.

The method involves cutting a two-dimensional outline of the chair’s frame from two aluminium sheets, which are then welded together and inflated with compressed air.

This then creates an h-shaped unit consisting of two legs and half of the backrest, which is then duplicated and welded together with a laser-cut seat and back panels to form the chair.